Assignments clog your mind. Athletics claim your body and spirit. Your to-do list is filled with small tasks, but even those seem impossible amidst the iceberg. How can you begin to chip off the top layers when you know what chilling mass lies beneath? You have to study for that test, research that college, maintain a social life, and do it all by 10:30 pm because that’s how you get eight hours of sleep. You have BBYO to attend, a program to plan, and that election speech definitely won’t write itself. You’re spread thin. 

When’s the break? 

When you do get a moment to breathe, only then do you realize that your room is a mess. Too exhausted to conquer the piles of papers and clothes, you look out the window. There are ducks swimming in the pool, swimming in circles. How nice, you think, how nice it would be to be a duck: quack quack all day, enjoy the sun and swim. Life would be so simple. And plus, you’d be darn cute. 

But webbed feet would grow mundane. Because if you were a duck, there’s so much you couldn’t do. No school for you. No pursuit of education or feelings of pride when you get back a paper you worked so hard on. There are no duck competitions. No teams or coaches to show up for, no way to push yourself and redefine your limits every day. No clubs to pursue at duck school. No seniors to look up to, no freshmen to mentor. Definitely no BBYO chapter to call home. No legacy to leave behind. No passion. 

These are the things that make busy beautiful. Long days can quickly morph into long weeks; sometimes it feels like you’re the one swimming in circles. A new challenge is born when the latest one is completed. While we’re in the midst of our cycle, it’s hard to step back and see the full geometric pattern. Those individual victories along the way–across so many different disciplines–make a varied, beautiful arrangement that reflects everything you’re becoming. 

For ducks, all they’ll experience is insects, rushing water, orange feet, and a single circle. For them, that’s enough. But for you and your endless potential, there’s beauty in being busy.